The specific aims of the proposed study are to: (1) describe marital life course transitions and sequences of older Americans, by sex, race, and cohort; (2) analyze change in marital life course patterns in middle and older age, including analysis of age, period and cohort effects on the marital and family life course; (3) project marital life course patterns in older age for cohorts of younger adults; and (4) examine the implications of older cohorts' experience of divorce, widowhood and remarriage for relationships between adult generations within families. The study will use data from the 1980 Current Population Survey, and will employ several analytic techniques, including: multiple decrement and increment-decrement life tables; proportional hazards models and other multivariate techniques; ratio and multivariate projections; and models for the study of age, period, and cohort effects. The study will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team from sociology, demography, and biostatistics. Long term research objectives are to increase the knowledge of marital role sequences in the lives of older men and women and the role of the family in a changing society. The objectives for social policy include expansion of the knowledge base for policy planning and program development relating to the quality of life of older persons, the special needs of the non-married elderly and the childless, and long term care and other aspects of health and health-related services for older persons.